The Celtics, thanks to Doc Rivers, found themselves with two first round picks to burn in the 2015 NBA draft. With the 16th pick, they chose guard Terry Rozier, which raised some head-scratchers. Then, 12 picks later, they drafted R.J. Hunter, a sweet shooting two guard. The Celtics already employ Marcus Smart, Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Evan Turner and James Young. Did they really need two more guards to add to their collection?

In free agency, the Celtics were smart to lock up Jae Crowder, a true 3-and-D player who at 24, still has his best days ahead of him. They also inked up Jonas Jerebko, who can serve as a stretch 4 who also provides a dash of playmaking. After taking care of their own players, the Celtics ventured out and pursued other teams’ free agents. They landed themselves power forward Amir Johnson on a 2 year $24 million deal. Johnson can toggle between power forward and center, and will be a valuable contributor.

The Celts also struck a trade for David Lee, while only giving up washed up veteran Gerald Wallace. Talent-wise, it was a great trade. Lee will give coach Brad Stevens a true scoring big to count on, and a veteran presence in a reactively young locker room. Money-wise, Lee will make $15 million next year. That’s a nice chunk of cap space.

As the summer nears its conclusion, the Celtics roster seems to be very guard and big man heavy. The only small forward on the roster is Jae Crowder. While players such as Evan Turner and Jerebko can spend time at the 3, the Celtics would be wise to try to acquire another one. This was a relatively quiet summer for Beantown, but the Celtics are undoubtedly more talented than last year. They are still just searching for that superstar.

Earlier today, the Boston Celtics completed a trade that will send Gerald Wallace to the Warriors in exchange for former all star David Lee.

Lee, a savvy power forward/center will provide the Celtics with veteran leadership, high IQ passing, and a go to scorer. While still in his early 30’s, he will still be able to contribute, especially since he will not be asked to play much due to the Celtics front court depth.

Ahhh, we hit a little snag with the Celtics front court. It is a mighty talented one, but it is as clogged as a drain. Tyler Zeller, Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, Amir Johnson and now Lee is just a redundant group of good not great big men.

Sustaining even a 4 man front court rotation is difficult. Just ask the Chicago Bulls, who had major troubles finding suitable minutes for all their talented big men.

This is a good problem to have though. Danny Ainge could go in a million directions with this situation, but the best bet is that he trades one of them for help at other positions.

Another reason that this is a good problem to have is since the Celtics are overflowing with quality big men, they do not have to worry about how much value they are extracting from one of them. For example, if the Celts decide to trade Jared Sullinger for somebody like Anthony Morrow, many would probably think that that would be a bad trade for the Celtics since Sullinger is younger, and has more talent.

But since the Celtics have so much front court depth, they can afford to make a move like that, since it helps them in an area of need (shooting) while it opens up more minutes for their well-deserving bigs.

Once again, this is a good problem to have! One cannot stress that enough, since there is just as high a chance that the Celtics move one of these players than Justin Beiber is arrested again.

The Boston Celtics have completed phase one of their rebuild: collect a glut of future assets. Now, they must turn those assets into impact players who can seriously help them contend. GM Danny Ainge is hunting like mad to find a team with a disgruntled superstar that wants to trade that superstar away.

Recently, the Sacramento Kings’ Demarcus Cousins has not kept it a secret that he is unhappy with the organization. Ainge will surely be formulating ways in which he can parlay all his juicy future picks from Brooklyn into someone like Cousins.

This offseason, Boston’s free agents are Jae Crowder, Luigi Datome, Brandon Bass, and Jonas Jerebko. While losing Jerebko and Datome would not be all that bad, the Celtics should definitely make it a top priority to resign Crowder to a relatively lengthy and cheap deal. While Jerebko’s skill set is redundant due to the Celtsics already-exsisting player personnel, Crowder’s is invaluable. He is the epitome of a 3 and D guy. He can lock down perimeter players on one end and can swish it from deep on the other. And at just 24 years old with no previous injuries, there will be no worries at all over his play declining.

As for Bass, he is a veteran with valuable experience. He has a solid mid range jumper and is also an excellent rebounder. Although, if he gets greedy, and asks for more money than he is worth, the Celtics should refuse because they already have young front court talent in Tyler Zeller, Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk. In the end, the Celtics should resign him around the $6 to $7 million range.

As for the backcourt, the Celts have more guards than they can handle, so don’t expect any runs at free agent guards.

Maybe the Celtics sprinkle in a nice, low risk, high reward signing in Robin Lopez. Lopez provides great rim protection and a nifty hook shot on offense, while also stabilizing the Celtics front court.

If the Celtics make those little moves, it should be considered a successful offseason.

But remember, Ainge is out there lurking, and his true priority is to acquire a superstar to bring to Beantown.

The Boston Celtics have to find a way to contain the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Big Three.

The Boston Celtics enter their opening-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers with all eyes in Boston on them for the first time this season. Throughout the 2014-’15 season, the Celtics have been seen as rebuilding while the New England Patriots captured Super Bowl XLIX on February 1st and the Boston Bruins failed to make the playoffs last Saturday.

In this series, pundits have mainly picked the Cavaliers to finish the series quickly either in four or five games. Celtics play-by-play broadcaster Mike Gorman (along with the most optimistic Celtics fans) are the only people who are picking the Celtics.

The pressure is on the superstar-laden Cavaliers. LeBron James signed with the Cavaliers last summer and immediately made the Cavaliers contenders for the Larry O’Brien trophy. They added forward Kevin Love in a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves and they already had 2014 NBA All-Star MVP Kyrie Irving on their roster.

Meanwhile the Celtics were 16-30 after January and left for dead in the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They shipped Rajon Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks and Jeff Green to the Memphis Grizzlies before Super Bowl Sunday. The Celtics are 24-12 since February 1st. They have beaten playoff teams like the Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, and New Orleans Pelicans. They also built a big advantage over the Golden State Warriors before falling in the final few minutes. The Celtics are among the hottest and most interesting teams in this year’s postseason. Brad Stevens is a candidate for Coach of the Year.

Here are three intriguing matchups between the Celtics and Cavliers:

1. James versus Celtics’ defense: It will be interesting to see if the Celtics employ any new wrinkles against James because they don’t really have a one-on-one defender to stop LeBron (nobody really does). The biggest key is to limit the turnovers and not let James get into the open court. The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach had an interesting article in Saturday’s newspaper about James’ shooting percentage from the perimeter. Himmelsbach wrote that James is shooting 56.5 percent when he has a defender guarding him within two feet and his percentage falls to 49.5 percent when the nearest defender is at least six feet away from him. Obviously, the Celtics would like to make James shoot jumpers in the half-court, but that is easier said than done against the 6-foot-8-inch, 250-pound battering ram. The Celtics will likely seek a rotation of Evan Turner, Jae Crowder, and Brandon Bass to defend James. Read more

Isaiah Thomas has been a major reason why the Celtics had the second best record in the Eastern Conference since February 2nd.

I’ll be the first to say that I was right in my prediction of contending for a low-seed playoff spot, but how the Celtics reached this point nobody saw coming. This Celtics team proved a lot of doubters wrong thus far, and defied the NBA tank. The strange thing is, I’m convinced they aren’t done yet. That’s correct, I think the Boston Celtics could give the Cavaliers a run for their money, by either pushing the Cavs to 7 games or even taking the series. And if anyone else is feeling as bold as I am about the Celtics taking down the Cavs, you can go place NBA Odds for the series!

I’m going to play out a scenario, and you tell me if I am being overly optimistic, or completely sensible. Celtics upset the Cavs in 7 games. LeBron will get his 30+ points a night, but can only carry his team so far. Kevin Love, much like most of the season, struggles to fit into David Blatt’s offense. Kyrie is held in check by Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley. David Blatt, an untested NBA coach, gets out-coached by Brad Stevens. Celtics play as a team and move the ball around and keep Cleveland’s stars in check. Celtics take a few games early on in the series, and suddenly the Cavs are playing on their heels.

It’s no secret that Marcus Smart has temper issues in the past, but it seems to be flaring up on the NBA level lately. It certainly seemed evident in last night’s blowout loss against the Spurs, with Smart’s hit below the belt on Matt Bonner. It was announced today that Smart was handed for a one-game suspension by the league, in addition to an early 4th quarter exit in last night’s game.

Ouch.

Marcus Smart has been a physical defensive presence all season, but obviously you should never hit a dude below the belt like that. That was ruthless and idiotic, and in no way accidental. He’s a competitive player which is great, but you can’t get your frustration and emotions get the best of you.